Outlet valve



y 21, 1940- v. WILLOUGHBY 2,201,805

OUTLET VALVE Filed Jan. 19, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEY Patented May21, 1940 UNITED "STATES PATENT OFFICE American Car and- Foundry Company,New

York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application January 19, 1938,Serial No. 185,739

1 Claim.

This invention relates in general to valves and in particular to valvesintended for use on tank cars or other bottom discharge containers.

In the past valves have been constructed in which no provision was madefor expansion and contraction of the operating stem and it is an object,therefore, of the present invention to provide a valve operating meanswhich is free of direct connection to the tank or container shell.

A further object of the invention is the pro, vision of a valve andoperating means which will permit the so-called breathing of the tank orcontainer without affecting the valve setting.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a valve andits operating means in which the valve is resiliently held on its seatonly by the desired compression of a spring and the weight of the.operating stem.

A yet further object of the invention is the provision of a valve fortanks or containers in which the valve has a metallic and non-metallicseal to retain the material within the tank or container.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to personsskilled in the art from a study of the following description andaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a partial sectional viewshowing the improved valve and operating means;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken substantially on line 22 of Figure 1;

Fig. 3 means showing its relation to the supporting bracket;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken substantially on line':i5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially on line G5 ofFig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 1-1 of Fig. 2 andshowing the bottom half of the valve, and

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 7-1 of Fig. 2 butlooking in the opposite direction and showing the upper half of thevalve.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, it will be seen that the valvehas been illustrated as applied to a conventional tank car having shell2, dome 4, outlet casting 6 riveted to the shell as at 8, inclosed atits lower end by safety cap ill. The outlet casting is of generallyconventional form having an upper cylindrical bore I2 provided at itsupper edge with an inclined seat i4 adapted to contact thecorrespondingly beveled seat 16 is an elevational view of the operatingformed on the upper valve member 18. This upper valve member is formedas a casting having an upwardly extending operator receiving portion 20and a centrally located downwardly projecting lug 22 adapted to bedrilled and tapped as at 24 for the reception of a clamping bolt 26having a pin 2! engaged in a slot of the mg to prevent loosening of thebolt. The lower surface of the upper valve member is also formed with adownwardly projecting annular flange 28 shouldered as at 30 in order toreceive a nonmetallic annular sealing gasket 32 which preferably has itsouter surface notched as at 34 (Fig. 2) in order to provide two separatenon-metallic sealing surfaces, thus giving a more resilient sealinggasket. The lower valve member 36 is formed with an upper substantiallyplain surface adapted to abut the annular sealing gasket for clampingthe same and with an upwardly projecting annular central portion 38adapted to surround the projecting lug of the upper portion and positionthe lower. portion relative thereto. The lower valve part is formed onits lower portion with a downwardly extending tubular-like projection 40from which three or more positioning wings 42 extend for guiding thevalve assembly within the tubular bore of the outlet casting. Thetubular projection just referred to is adapted to fit over the clampingbolt 26 and be forced toward the upper valve member by means of nut 44thus securely clamping the annular sealing gasket between the two halvesof the valve.

In order to operate the valve 2. squared operating rod 46 is adapted tohave its lower end extend into the projection 20 and be secured thereinby a bolt or other means 48. The upper end of the operating rod is maderound and threaded as at 50 in order to receive and be controlled bycorresponding threads formed in the hub portion of an operating wheel orhandle 52 held in position upon the rod by means of securing nut 54 andcotter 55. The lower portion of the wheel hub is formed with a U-shapedprojection (Fig. 5), the sides and back of which are formed by a web 58terminating in an inwardly directed flange 58, thus forming an openended slot within which may be received the flange til of a springcasting member 62. The flange 60 is joined to the main body of thespring casting by means of a circular collar fit, thus forming a T-headon the spring casting which may be rotatably received within theU-shaped slot of the operating wheel. The main portion of the springcasting is substantially square (Figs. 3 and 6) g and is provided at itslower end with an outstanding fiange 65 adapted to receive one end of acompression spring 58, the other end of which bears upon bracket 10removably secured to the tank shell by bolts H and having a squarecentral opening 12 adapted to receive the squared portion of the springcasting (Fig. 3).

The assembly and operation of the improved valve device is as follows:The annular sealing gasket will be placed upon the shoulder of the uppervalve element and securely clamped in position by the lower valveelement through the clamping bolt 26 and nut 44 and the entire assemblyplaced in its proper position upon the outlet casting. With the valveassembly in position the operating shaft 45 may be secured thereto andthe .bracket 10 with spring and. spring casting in proper positionlowered over the upper end of the rod until the flanges are slightlybelow the upper threaded end of the rod. With the spring casting in thisposition the open ended slot of the operating wheel may be engaged withthe flanges 6H and the entire assembly lowered on the rod under controlof the hand wheel after which the retaining nut 54 is locked in positionand the bracket 16 secured to the tank shell. With the valve andoperating mechanism assembled as described and shown in Fig. 2 anyrotation of the hand wheel in a clockwise direction as viewed from abovewill cause a lifting of the spring casting and a compression of thespring which will react through the casting, hand Wheel and operatingrod to cause the valve to be more firmly pressed upon its seat.counterclockwise rotation of the hand Wheel will cause a lowering of thespring casting until such time as the flanges 58 of the hand wheelengage the bracket, after which continued rotation will cause a directlifting of the rod and its connected valve, first separating themetallic seats l4 and It, then later removing the resilient sealinggasket from the bore of the outlet casting and permitting discharge ofmaterial from the tank or container. In returning the valve to itsseated position the weight of the valve and its operating rod 46 will inmost cases be sufficient to place the valve in closed position, but ifthis weight is insufficient, then continued rotation of the hand wheelwill cause compression of the spring and the valve will be forced to itsfinal seated position in which both a metallic and a non-metallic sealis provided to prevent leakage of material.

While the device has been described more or less in detail, it isobvious that various modifications and rearrangements of parts will beapparent to persons skilled in the art and all such modifications and.rearrangements are contemplated as fall within the scope of thefollowing claim.

What is claimed is:

An outlet valve for tank cars comprising in combination, an outletcasting having a valve seat and a concentric bore, a valve formed ofupper and lower parts, the upper valve part includ ing a seating facefor engaging with said valve seat, a centrally positioned downwardlyprojecting concentric lug, and an annular depending flange spacedintermediate of the seating face and lug, said lug being formed with athreaded bore and a transverse slot and said depending flange beingprovided with an outwardly facing shoulder to provide an annular groove,a packing element in said groove of greater width than said shoulder andprojecting below same, a lower valve part including a plate like bodyformed with a I) flat upper marginal edge portion for engaging theprojecting portion of said gasket for compressing the same into sealingcontact with the concentric bore of the outlet casting, an upwardlyprojecting annular central portion. for seating about said lug, acentrally positioned depending tubular portion having a plurality ofradiating guide wings, and a clamping bolt extending through thedepending tubular portion of said lower valve part and threaded into thebore of said lug, said bolt having a lock pin extending transverselytherethrough seated in the slot in said lug and a nut threaded onto theouter end thereof for clamping the valve parts together.

VICTOR WILLOUGEY.

